Since the Pope Keeps His Tree up till Candlemas…

I figured I’d belatedly pass on this Christmas present from a reader:

Want to give your readers a little Christmas present? I just wanted to pass along to you a very interesting and edifying story that I think you and your readers might like…It is about the miraculous heavenly intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary to prisoner Claude Newman in Mississippi in 1945 as told by Fr. Robert O’Leary. It concerns a series of visions of Our Blessed Mother to two prisoners on death row and their subsequent miraculous conversions prior to their executions.
Here is the article if interested:

I was fortunate to meet Brother Claude Lane, OSB of Mount Angel Abbey in Oregon who provided many new and unpublished details about this amazing true story that he and two others have recently discovered in their research.

Best wishes and may God bless you and your loved ones this Christmas and throughout the New Year!

This is the sort of story that makes me thing two things. First, thank God for his mercy. Second, what is the sense of killing these two repentent men? Abstract argument from death penalty enthusiasts about “retributive” justice ring particularly hollow in such circumstances. Bottom line: God had mercy on these guys and blessed them, while man said, “Big deal. Kill ’em anyway.”